FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus and related method for molding a segment of a sabot.
In an effort to achieve higher velocities in projectiles for military use, it has been desirable to reduce the weight of the projectiles by reducing an overall parasitic weight of all discarding components. One method of achieving this features is utilization of advance lightweight composites for manufacturing a sabot. Several methods have been attempted to assemble such a sabot using plies of high strength carbon fiber reinforced plastic.
Several problems have been experienced with past attempts to mold the plies into an acceptable shape of a sabot using conventional compression molding methods and machines. Conventional compression molding is performed by loading a material to be molded into a mold cavity and applying pressure vertically with a mating mold half. This method is acceptable for molding flat objects, or for parts with plies arranged to be perpendicular to the applied pressure. However, when attempting to form a cylindrical sabot segment using carbon fiber reinforced plastic, application of vertical pressure causes the radially aligned plies to buckle and form cavities and voids in the resultant sabot segment. Further, the carbon fibers are bent, thus reducing their load bearing capabilities.
Consequently the only workable method of molding a sabot segment from the carbon fiber reinforced plastic material in the prior art has been to physically connect with epoxy a plurality of plies of various widths to form wedge-shaped sections, then physically connecting with epoxy or film adhesive a plurality of the wedge-shaped sections to one another until an entire sabot is formed. This method, while avoiding the problems of buckled plies and bent fibers associated with conventional molding methods, is extremely slow and not cost effective.